Live Updates: Biden Holds Putin Accountable for Navalny’s Death

Live Updates: Biden Holds Putin Accountable for Navalny’s Death

Before Russian authorities reported ‍his death, Aleksei A. Navalny ⁣was sentenced to another term in a special punishment cell in an Arctic prison. ​This form of incarceration ⁣is used to force inmates into subjugation. This was the⁢ 27th⁤ time that prison authorities had sent Mr. Navalny into a punishment cell. If⁢ he were to have served this last⁤ term in full, he would ⁤have spent a total‌ of 308 days⁣ in similar​ cells. Inmates in such cells are often ⁤left cold and hungry, and those conditions could account for reports of Mr. Navalny’s death. Mr. Navalny had continued to post messages ‌on social ⁣media⁣ by passing​ notes to his visiting lawyers, and he had described ‌the brutal ⁣conditions in punishment cells. Apart from spending time⁤ in a frigid, cramped cell,⁢ inmates in ⁣punishment cells are also ⁣limited in their ability to exercise, spending time in a tiny walled‌ courtyard with a⁢ roof of prison bars. In his ‌new penal colony in the​ Arctic, for instance,‍ Mr. ⁣Navalny was allowed to ‌go out only in⁣ the ‍mornings, while it was⁤ still dark and the temperatures‍ were at their​ lowest point. Mr. Navalny called his confinement to punishment cells a form of torture, though he also⁢ joked ⁤cavalierly ⁢that it was an opportunity for ⁢him to meditate. Harsh prison conditions did​ damage Mr. Navalny’s health. He‍ was first sent to a penal colony in⁢ March ​2021,⁢ just‌ months after⁢ being poisoned‍ by‌ a nerve agent that‍ nearly killed‌ him. During his⁢ first weeks in the penal⁢ colony, Mr. Navalny’s health quickly deteriorated. While⁤ imprisoned,⁣ Mr. Navalny said that he was not receiving proper medical⁤ treatment, and declared a hunger strike to protest ⁣it. By ⁢the time he stopped ​it ‌more than three⁢ weeks later, he ‍said, he was left like “a skeleton walking, swaying, in…

2024-02-16 14:33:13
Original from ‍ www.nytimes.com

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